India plays Scotland today (Thursday 16 August) in a ODI match at the Clydesdale Cricket Club grounds in Glasgow. Not surprisingly, it has been raining in Glasgow and a tinge of optimism is required to believe that this match will run its full course. If the weather does not have a say in curtailing the match duration, the Indian team might! Scotland are definitely not pushovers and since the World Cup, they have shown some improvement. But I can’t really see them offer the Indian team anything more than a pleasant sightseeing opportunity!
India follow this game with a ODI against England Lions at the County Ground, Northampton.
After that the 7-match circus commences on 21 August at The Rose Bowl (Southampton).
From the Team India contingent for the Test matches, Anil Kumble, Sree Santh, Wasim Jaffer, Ranadeb Bose, V. V. S. Laxman and Ishant Sharma have departed for India while Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel have joined the squad.
It is likely that all of the above will play in the game against Scotland and also in the game against England Lions on the 18th. It is also likely that the players with minimal work-rate in the Test series will also play both games — namely, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ramesh Powar.
We could add to this list Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik and Sourav Ganguly for the game against Scotland and Sachin Tendulkar, M. S. Dhoni and R. P. Singh for the game against the Lions.
So the likely teams for the games are:
Against Scotland:
Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel.
and
Against England Lions:
Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, M. S. Dhoni, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, R. P. Singh and Munaf Patel
It is likely that Zaheer Khan will sit out both games.
— Mohan
— Mohan
i3j3Cricket :: A blog for fans of Indian cricket... 
VVS Laxman stays to play for Lancashire.
India has to identify the next gen super stars. I have a feeling after the Australia tour in winter, some of the fab 5 might retire – VVS Laxman and Kumble.
Rahul Dravid’s batting has been a concern since he became a captain. He is not the same “match winner” as he was before.
Bench strength – Looks like for fast bowling there is some talent on the wings.
It is a little disappointing that we do not have as much spin talent as before. I wish we could have Rajendra Goel or Padmakar Shivalkar now.
why not V V Kumar?
VVS is the youngest of the Fab Five…
I understand, VVS is the youngest of the fab five.
I think VVS is a superb player of fast bowling and spin bowling – (his weakness is for the off-cutter, VVS gets clean bowled early in his innings for this delivery. ) . In 2004 he was the best batsman in the world, better than Lara, Ponting. I understand Lara was up all night to watch Dravid and Laxman
s innings, since they thought no body can conquer Australia. The way, they were farming the bowling ….
My advice to VVS is to retire after the Australia series, and I think he will be held in great dignity, hopefully much better than Vengayasarkar et al. But in Indian cricket, $$$ for players is huge.
“But in Indian cricket, $$$ for players is huge.”
They have ICL for it now, if only $$$ attract them. It is paying much higher amount than what BCCI does to its contracted players!
Mohan,
No news on half the Hyderabad Ranji team signing for ICL?
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070817/asp/frontpage/story_8202200.asp
Chandan, I am not really sure what to make of such sensational news in Indian media outlets. I’ll personally wait for a reputed outlet — such as CricInfo or BBC — to comment on it. The credibility of most of the rest is, as far as I am concerned at least, somewhat ordinary. I haven’t seen Harsha Bhogle comment on it, for example.
Times of India in today’s edition–a reputable newspaper–informs us that half of Hyderabad’s team has been dropped and replacements brought in–missing players include the captain and promising player Rayudu—all on 90 lakh Rupees each promise from ICL!!!!!
Here is your cricinfo piece on this news, Mohan:
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/icl/content/current/story/307147.html
Wonder how ICL can survive doling out such huge amounts to Ranji trophy players.Will work initially but for long term survival this is poor strategy.And it also shows poor team and country(state) spirit among the Hyderabad players.
oho……..good u have a nice website You can see some of the photos in India in my photoblog. great to see ur blog.
http://travelindiaphoto.blogspot.com/
I believe that India will win all the ODI matches against England.
Sampath Kumar,
Times of India has no credibility at all, especially when it comes to cricket news. So it is better to ignore any breaking news from TOI, till you get it confirmed from a creditable source/site!